CA Prison Blaze Sends 17 to Hospitals
By Randi Rossmann
Source The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Oct. 5 -- A male inmate at the Sonoma County Jail started two small fires Monday morning in a common area, sending 13 correctional officers and four inmates to hospitals with apparent smoke inhalation, according to the authorities.
Sheriff’s officials said the inmate, determined to cause a disturbance, had spread soap on a floor and lit two small fires, activating smoke alarms and the facility sprinkler system. He’d caused the commotion in a housing unit for inmates needing to be separated from general population inmates.
Santa Rosa firefighters, correctional officers and the water system doused the small blaze of burning paper products and furniture. But the fire filled the housing unit with smoke and roughly 24 inmates were evacuated and evaluated, as well as numerous officers.
The officers were taken to Kaiser Permanente hospital and the inmates to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
Santa Rosa firefighters initially were called to a medical aid at the jail at 10:10 a.m. for a medical issue, said Santa Rosa fire Battalion Chief Mark Basque. As they were being escorted into the locked-down facility to treat an inmate, they learned a fire had started and switched to fire mode.
The inmate causing the initial problem was one of those taken to the hospital. None of the medical issues appeared to be serious, Basque said.
The jail was locked down at some point Monday morning and visitors were turned away.
This story is developing, check back for updates.
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